Milwaukee, WI – Senator Chris Larson released the following statement in response to today’s decision of the Wisconsin Supreme Court in the case of Wisconsin Legislature v. Andrea Palm.

“The immediate result of the court’s ruling will be to slow down Wisconsin’s ability to respond at a time when every moment counts. We’ve seen how the Trump administration’s slow action at the start of this crisis has caused the United States to lead the world in the number of COVID-19 cases. Wisconsin got ahead of the curve because we followed the science and moved quickly. That strategic advantage in this pandemic has now been plucked away. This is a sad day for our state, and the repercussions of this misguided decision will be felt by thousands of our neighbors in the months to come, some of whom will not live to share their story.

“As a member of the legislature, I reject the GOP leadership’s claim to represent our entire body. 

“Unfortunately, the Republican justices had made up their minds before having heard the legal arguments in this case. To the chimes of national ridicule, Justice Bradley compared Safer at Home to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, and the Chief Justice indicated that meat-packing workers, many of whom are immigrants, were not the ‘regular folks of Brown County.’

“I am stunned by the blatant partisanship and reckless disregard for human life displayed today by some politicians on our Wisconsin Supreme Court in their decision to invalidate Governor Evers’ ‘Safer at Home’ order. Our neighbors’ lives should matter more than being seen as political pawns in an ideological game of chess.”

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